GB1385847A - Ground engaging hay bale rolling apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

1385847 Hay bale rolling apparatus STARLINE INC 11 April 1973 17455/73 Heading A1F A hay bale rolling apparatus consists of a wheeled frame F on which is mounted an hydraulically driven and controlled bale rolling device R. The bale roller R comprises a pair of endless chains 34 provided with transverse bars 35 running on four pairs of sprockets 22, 25, 29, 33, of which one pair 22 is driven by a hydraulic motor 48 via a sprocket 50 and chain 51. The lower chain run 34a between front sprocket 22 and rear sprocket 33 runs close to the ground and engages hay lying in a swathso as to roll it into a bale in the frame as it is moved along by a tractor. As the bale size increases the lower chain run 34a arches higher and higher within the baling chamber B (defined by the side plates 20, the transverse bars 35 and the ground) due to the pivotting of the upper front sprockets 29 on arms 26 about pivots 27. This swinging movement of arms 26 may be controlled by the pistons of hydraulic cylinders 36. When the bale reaches the required size for discharge, the rear sprocket arms 30 swing upwardly and rearwardly about their pivots 31 at the corner of the frame due to the operation of piston 45 in hydraulic unit 41 and move cross shaft 32 joining the lower rear sprockets 33 away from the rolled bale, permitting it to discharge from the baler. The hydraulic fluid supply to unit 41 may be controlled by a spring loaded actuating handle 64 of a mechanically controlled valve 63, which may either be manually operated by cables 76, 78 or automatically by a sensing device, 70, in which an arm 72 rests on the bale, and when the bale reaches a predetermined size, automatically operates actuating handle 64 to move it from the "running" to the "discharge" setting by means of cables 76, 78 and returning it to the "running" position when the bale has been discharged.